Maternal Acceptance/Rejection of Mexican Migrant Mothers

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Abstract
This study examined correlates of maternal acceptance of preschool children in a sample of Mexican-American migrant farmworker mothers, including problems in life conditions (education, employment, relatives, friends, partner/spouse, children, health, housing, and finances) and social support (task, emotional, source, satisfaction, accessibility). One hundred Mexican-American mothers of preschoolers who participated in the Texas Migrant Council's Headstart Program were interviewed with regard to demographic information, social support, and problems in life conditions. The results supported the hypothesis that total social support accounts for more variation in maternal acceptance/rejection than problems in life conditions alone. Social support accounted for 75% of the variance in maternal acceptance/rejection of preschool children, and accessibility to support predicted the largest proportion of the variance. The results suggest that it is important to identify Mexican-American migrant farmworker mothers isolated from social support, since such isolation, in combination with problems in life conditions, places their children at higher risk for maternal rejection.